Container for receiving a cartridge for heating or cooling the contents of the container

ABSTRACT

A cartridge comprising: a first reactant cavity for containing a first reactant; a second reactant cavity for containing a second reactant, which second reactant cavity is in an operative condition located below the first reactant cavity; a frangible barrier separating the first and second reactant cavities; a flexible member defined at an end of the first reactant cavity remote the barrier, the member having a receiving formation on an inner surface thereof for receiving an end of an elongate member therein, which elongate member extends towards the barrier; one or more openings located in an operatively upper region of the second reactant cavity; and where in use, the integrity of the barrier is disrupted by a force acting on an outer surface of the flexible member to displace it towards the barrier, thereby causing the elongate member to disrupt the integrity of the barrier and permitting the first and second reactants to react with each other. A kit comprising the cartridge disclosed above.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a U.S. national stage of application No. PCT/ZA2006/000107, filed on 15 Sep. 2006. Priority under 35 U.S.C. section 119(a) and 35 U.S.C. section 365(b) is claimed from South African Application No. 2005/10212, filed 15 Sep. 2005, the disclosures of both of which are also incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a container for receiving a cartridge for heating or cooling a beverage or foodstuff located in the container. The invention further relates to a cartridge for use in combination with the container.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Containers containing consumables such as coffee, soup, sake, and the like provided with an integral heating unit for heating its contents are known in the art. Examples of such containers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,264 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,111. A further example of such a container can be found in South African patent number 96/8737.

The heating unit generally includes two chambers separated by a frangible barrier, wherein one chamber includes water and the other includes a solid reactant. The water and the solid reactant are brought into contact with each other when the barrier is broken. The unit can be located in the container containing the consumables in such a manner that the container must be inverted once the barrier has been broken to permit a user to consume the contents of the container.

Alternatively, the heating unit forms part of a base of a container into which the container containing the consumable is inserted to heat or cool it. In this case, the container need not be inverted prior to consumption.

Whilst the containers disclosed in the abovementioned patents fulfil their function satisfactorily, some problems have been associated with each of them.

These problems include a high cost of manufacture due to the container and unit having many separate parts, leakage of fluid out of the unit, and solid reactant products leaking from the unit upon inversion of the container.

The main disadvantage of the containers described by the prior art is that the container containing the foodstuff or beverage is not re-usable.

When the prior art container is purchased, it already contains a particular foodstuff or beverage and a user does not have the option of filling the container with a desired foodstuff or beverage.

The inventor therefore believes that a need exists for providing a container configured and dimensioned to receive a cartridge for heating or cooling the contents of the container therein, wherein the container is reusable.

Such a container would be particularly useful for providing heated milk, nutrition formula, or the like to infants, toddlers, and small children. At present, if an infant requires feeding during the night, the caretaker will typically heat a liquid to be fed to the infant whilst said liquid is in a feeding bottle using, for example, a microwave oven.

The temperature to which the bottle and its contents are heated is difficult to regulate and the caretaker will often have to wait some time for the bottle and its contents to cool down prior to being able to feed the infant.

Heating the bottle in a microwave usually entails leaving the infant unattended for a couple of minutes, thereby causing distress to an already hungry and uncomfortable infant.

The present invention allows a caretaker to heat the contents of a feeding bottle in the presence of the infant and it is unlikely that the contents of the feeding bottle are heated to a temperature above which said contents are too hot to be fed to the infant.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The disclosed invention relates to a cartridge, the cartridge comprising: a first reactant cavity for containing a first reactant; a second reactant cavity for containing a second reactant, which second reactant cavity is in an operative condition located below the first reactant cavity; a frangible barrier separating the first and second reactant cavities; a flexible member defined at an end of the first reactant cavity remote the barrier, the member having a receiving formation on an inner surface thereof for receiving an end of an elongate member therein, which elongate member extends towards the barrier; one or more openings located in an operatively upper region of the second reactant cavity; and where in use, the integrity of the barrier is disrupted by a force acting on an outer surface of the flexible member to displace it towards the barrier, thereby causing the elongate member to disrupt the integrity of the barrier and permitting the first and second reactants to react with each other.

The disclosed invention also relates to a kit, the kit comprising: at least one cartridge, the at least one cartridge comprising: a first reactant cavity for containing a first reactant; a second reactant cavity for containing a second reactant, which second reactant cavity is in an operative condition located below the first reactant cavity; a frangible barrier separating the first and second reactant cavities; a flexible member defined at an end of the first reactant cavity remote the barrier, the member having a receiving formation on an inner surface thereof for receiving an end of an elongate member therein, which elongate member extends towards the barrier; one or more openings located in an operatively upper region of the second reactant cavity; and where in use, the integrity of the barrier is disrupted by a force acting on an outer surface of the flexible member to displace it towards the barrier, thereby causing the elongate member to disrupt the integrity of the barrier and permitting the first and second reactants to react with each other; at least one container, the at least one container comprising: a material cavity for containing a material to be heated or cooled; an opening located at a first end of the container to permit access to the material cavity; and a cartridge cavity extending from a second end of the container towards the first end of the container, the cartridge cavity being configured and dimensioned to receive the cartridge therein; where in use, the cartridge is inserted into the cartridge cavity so that the flexible member of the cartridge abuts against a surface of the cartridge cavity resulting in a force being exerted on the outer surface of the flexible member.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure will be better understood by those skilled in the pertinent art by referencing the accompanying drawings, where like elements are numbered alike in the several figures, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a partially cut away perspective view of a cartridge in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a partially cut away perspective view of a re-usable container in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 3 shows a partially cut away perspective view of a re-usable container in accordance with the present invention when the cartridge of FIG. 1 has been inserted into the container.

In the drawings, reference numeral 10 generally indicates an embodiment of a cartridge in accordance with the present invention and reference numeral 36 generally indicates a re-usable container in accordance with the present invention.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a cartridge 10 including a first reactant cavity 12 for containing a first reactant (not shown), a second reactant cavity 14 for containing a second reactant (not shown) and a frangible barrier 16 in the form of a foil separating the first and second cavities 12 and 14.

A flexible member 18 is defined at an end of the first reactant cavity 12 remote the barrier 16. The member 18 has a receiving formation 20 on an inner surface thereof for receiving an end of an elongate member 22 therein, which elongate member 22 extends towards the barrier 16.

Two openings 24 are located in an operatively upper region of the second reactant cavity 14, which openings 24 are overlayed by hingedly mounted flap formations 26.

Two channels 28 are defined in an outer surface 30 of the second reactant cavity 14, which channels 28 extend from the openings 24 towards a free end 32 of the cartridge 10.

In use, the integrity of the barrier 16 is disrupted by a force acting on an outer surface of the flexible member 18 as indicated by arrow A in FIG. 1 to displace it towards the barrier 16, thereby causing the elongate member 22 to disrupt the integrity of the barrier 16 and permit the first and second reactants to react with each other. In FIG. 3, the cartridge is shown immediately prior to the force A beginning to act on the flexible member 18.

When the pressure in the second reactant cavity 14 exceeds a predetermined pressure due to the formation of reaction gases, the flap formations 26 are displaced into an open condition to permit the gases to exit the second reactant cavity 14.

In the embodiment shown, the reaction resulting when the first and second reactants react with each other is exothermic. The first reactant is water and the second reactant is granular calcium oxide.

As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, the flexible member 18 is convex in shape so as to stand proud of the first reactant cavity 12.

The receiving formation 20 on the inner surface of the flexible member 18 is in the form of a female formation configured and dimensioned to snugly receive an end of the elongate member 22 therein.

The elongate member 22 extends so as to abut against the frangible barrier 16 as can be seen in FIG. 3.

The elongate member 22 includes a flared portion 34 located at its free end nearest the barrier 16. The flared portion 34 is generally circular in plan view. The flared portion 34 ensures that the majority of the frangible barrier 16 is disrupted when the force A acts on the outer surface of the flexible member 18 and thereby on the elongate member 22.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a re-usable container 36 configured and dimensioned to receive the cartridge 10 of FIG. 1 therein.

The container 36 includes a material cavity 38 for containing a material (not shown) to be heated, an opening 40 located at a first end 42 of the container 36 to permit access to the material cavity 38.

A cartridge cavity 44 extends from a second end 46 of the container 36 towards the first end 42 of the container 36. The cartridge cavity 44 is configured and dimensioned to receive the cartridge 10 therein.

A protrusion 48 extends from a closed end of the cartridge cavity 44 into the cavity 44 so that, when the cartridge 10 is inserted into the cartridge cavity 44, the protrusion 48 exerts a force A on the outer surface of the flexible member 18.

The material to be heated is a beverage or a foodstuff such as, for example, coffee, infant formula, soup, and the like.

The container 36 is provided with a closure member 50 located at its second end 46 for retaining the cartridge 10 in the cartridge cavity 44, once inserted as shown in FIG. 3.

The closure member 50 is screwed onto the second end 46 of the container 36 and is removed to permit the cartridge 10 to be inserted into or removed from the cartridge cavity 44.

The closure member 50 may include openings 52 therein to permit gases exiting via the channels 28 of the cartridge 10 as indicated by arrow B in FIG. 1 to pass therethrough.

The opening 40 is typically provided with a threaded neck portion 54 to permit a cap or other closure member to be mounted over the opening 40 to seal the material cavity 38.

The material cavity 38 can be filled with a beverage or foodstuff and sealed prior to sale of the container 36. Alternatively, the container 36 can be sold empty so that a user is able to select the contents he wishes to place into the material cavity 38.

Advantages of the present invention include the re-usable nature of the container 36, the fact that a user is able to select the beverage or foodstuff he wishes to heat or cool as the container 36 can be sold empty.

Furthermore, the container 36 need not be inverted prior to use whilst the reaction gases are channeled away from the opening 40 of the container 36 so that the mouth of a user consuming material contained in the material cavity 38 will not come into contact with said gases.

It should be noted that the terms “first”, “second”, and “third”, and the like may be used herein to modify elements performing similar and/or analogous functions. These modifiers do not imply a spatial, sequential, or hierarchical order to the modified elements unless specifically stated.

While the disclosure has been described with reference to several embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this disclosure, but that the disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims. 

1. A cartridge comprising: a first reactant cavity for containing a first reactant; a second reactant cavity for containing a second reactant, which second reactant cavity is in an operative condition located below the first reactant cavity; a frangible barrier separating the first and second reactant cavities; a flexible member defined at an end of the first reactant cavity remote the barrier, the member having a receiving formation on an inner surface thereof for receiving an end of an elongate member therein, which elongate member extends towards the barrier; one or more openings located in an operatively upper region of the second reactant cavity; and wherein in use, the integrity of the barrier is disrupted by a force acting on an outer surface of the flexible member to displace it towards the barrier, thereby causing the elongate member to disrupt the integrity of the barrier and permitting the first and second reactants to react with each other.
 2. A cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cartridge includes one or more flap formations configured and dimensioned to overlay the openings.
 3. A cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cartridge includes one or more channels defined in an outer surface of the second reactant cavity extending from the openings towards a free end of the cartridge.
 4. A cartridge as claimed in claim 3, wherein, when the pressure in the second reactant cavity exceeds a predetermined pressure due to the formation of reaction gases, the flap formations are displaced into an open condition to permit the gases to exit the second reactant cavity.
 5. A cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reaction resulting when the first and second reactants react with each other is exothermic.
 6. A cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reaction resulting when the first and second reactants react with each other is endothermic.
 7. A cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first reactant is water.
 8. A cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second reactant is calcium oxide.
 9. A cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flexible member is convex in shape so as to stand proud of the first reactant cavity.
 10. A cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein the receiving formation on the inner surface of the flexible member is in the form of a female formation configured and dimensioned to snugly receive an end of the elongate member therein.
 11. A cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein the elongate member extends so as to abut against the frangible barrier or it to a zone just short of said barrier.
 12. A cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein the elongate member includes a flared portion located at its free end nearest the barrier.
 13. A cartridge as claimed in claim 12, wherein the flared portion is generally circular in plan view so that the majority of the frangible barrier is disrupted when the force acts on the outer surface of the flexible member and thereby on the elongate member.
 14. A re-usable container configured and dimensioned to receive a cartridge as claimed in claim 1, the container including:— a material cavity for containing a material to be heated or cooled; an opening located at a first end of the container to permit access to the material cavity; and a cartridge cavity extending from a second end of the container towards the first end of the container, the cartridge cavity being configured and dimensioned to receive the cartridge therein; wherein in use, the cartridge is inserted into the cartridge cavity so that the flexible member of the cartridge abuts against a surface of the cartridge cavity resulting in a force being exerted on the outer surface of the flexible member.
 15. A container as claimed in claim 14, wherein the force acting on the flexible member causes the cartridge to be activated into providing either heating or cooling to the material cavity.
 16. A container as claimed in claim 14, wherein the cartridge cavity includes a protrusion on its surface against which the flexible member of the cartridge abuts in use.
 17. A container as claimed in claim 14, wherein the cartridge cavity includes one or more channels defined in its walls, which channels extend towards the opening of the cartridge cavity. 17.1. A container as claimed in claim 17 wherein in use, the channels are located in register with openings in the second reactant cavity of the cartridge.
 18. A container as claimed in claim 14, wherein the material to be heated or cooled is a beverage or a foodstuff.
 19. A container as claimed in claim 14, wherein the container includes a closure member located at its second end for retaining the cartridge in the cartridge cavity, once inserted.
 20. A container as claimed in claim 19, wherein the closure member is displaceable between an inoperative condition in which it permits the cartridge to be inserted into or removed from the cartridge cavity and an operative condition in which it retains the cartridge in the cartridge cavity.
 21. A container as claimed in claim 19, wherein the closure member includes openings therein to permit gases exiting via the openings in the cartridge to pass there through.
 22. A container as claimed in claim 14, wherein the opening located at the first end of the container is provided with a threaded neck portion to permit a closure member to be mounted over the opening to seal the material cavity.
 23. A container as claimed in claim 14, wherein the container is a feeding bottle for an infant or toddler and the reaction between the first and second reactants is exothermic.
 24. A kit comprising: at least one cartridge, the at least one cartridge comprising: a first reactant cavity for containing a first reactant; a second reactant cavity for containing a second reactant, which second reactant cavity is in an operative condition located below the first reactant cavity; a frangible barrier separating the first and second reactant cavities; a flexible member defined at an end of the first reactant cavity remote the barrier, the member having a receiving formation on an inner surface thereof for receiving an end of an elongate member therein, which elongate member extends towards the barrier; one or more openings located in an operatively upper region of the second reactant cavity; and wherein in use, the integrity of the barrier is disrupted by a force acting on an outer surface of the flexible member to displace it towards the barrier, thereby causing the elongate member to disrupt the integrity of the barrier and permitting the first and second reactants to react with each other; at least one container, the at least one container comprising: a material cavity for containing a material to be heated or cooled; an opening located at a first end of the container to permit access to the material cavity; and a cartridge cavity extending from a second end of the container towards the first end of the container, the cartridge cavity being configured and dimensioned to receive the cartridge therein; wherein in use, the cartridge is inserted into the cartridge cavity so that the flexible member of the cartridge abuts against a surface of the cartridge cavity resulting in a force being exerted on the outer surface of the flexible member. 25-30. (canceled) 